


Never Too Many

by Ajisai



Category: Warehouse 13, xxxHoLic
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-17
Updated: 2012-11-17
Packaged: 2017-11-18 20:38:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/565043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ajisai/pseuds/Ajisai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Claudia is visiting Yuuko and Watanuki for help retrieving a particularly special artifact.  Written for fandom_stocking 2011.  :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Too Many

Claudia stared the shelves, half in disbelief, half in awe at the sheer number of boxes and cloth wrappings each artifact ( _No_ , she corrected herself, _Not artifact. They don't use that word here_.) was covered in. "How do you know where everything is?" She asked. There wasn't a computer in sight, and after a while, all the pretty fabric patterns started to blend into one another. _Cherry blossom meets moon meets autumn leaf meets--oh, I already looked at this one three times_. She shook her head and tried to regain her bearings among the wide shelves in a room that was surprisingly large, considering how small the house it belonged to was.

"It's complicated." The boy she'd met earlier, Watanuki, appeared from one of the aisles. "I remember most of them, but there are a few that only Yuuko knows. Can you please tell me again about the item you need?"

"Uh, yeah. Some sort of graceful fan...? Brings in the ladies like no one's business?" That was the majority of Pete's explanation that she remembered. To be fair, though, most of it had been sidetracked with his recounting of what it was capable of doing, supposedly, which was making any man irresistible to women. Myka was on vacation, and due to the obvious problems with retrieving this particular item, Pete and Artie were out of the picture, which left her to travel to Japan. _Not that it had been all bad_ , she consoled herself. The trip to Akihabara had been especially fruitful, even if it had damaged her finances a little bit.

"We have... we have too many fans." Watanuki looked around him, counting something on his fingers. "There's the one that the... the _tengu_ lent us; the cursed one we recovered from the city park; the one that stopped the Tokyo Tower from being destroyed..." Seeing Claudia's expression, he added, "That's a long story. But for another time. What do you mean, 'brings in the ladies'?"

"Oh! I mean, if you have the fan, you'll get lots of action. Girl action. Wait, no, that sounded wrong. Girlfriend action? I mean, if a guy holds it--..." She let her voice trail off, embarrassed at the linguistic distress that trying to communicate with boys over delicate matters invariably brought.

"I see. Women like him." Recognition finally lit up Watanuki's eyes. "Lady Murasaki's Genji fan. I know where that is. Wait here." He set off purposefully down one of the aisles. After a moment, there was a loud clattering noise from the back, and automatically, Claudia took a step forward to see what was happening. Watanuki reappeared with his arms precariously full of of beautiful boxes and cloth-wrapped objects. She hastily grabbed at the item that was falling and found herself holding a strangely shaped... something. It looked like a tiny walking stick, except that it was plastic, and very, very pink, with a weird, bird-like head, enfolded by two graceful wings. Watanuki managed to put the boxes down without further incident and stared at her.

"I don't know if that's dangerous or not." He confessed.

Claudia shrugged. It didn't feel dangerous; if anything, it felt strangely heavy for something that looked like a children's toy. "Is it weird that I have an urge to find a deck of cards?"

"It's not weird at all." A new voice broke into her thoughts. It belonged to a very tall and thin woman, wearing an impressive and elegant kimono. She smiled kindly. "However, since you're not the person that item was made for, I'd suggest you put it down. There's no telling what sort of trouble you might unleash."

"I was just helping... ah, helping Miss Donovan find an item. The Genji fan." Watanuki hastened to explain.

"Ah, yes. The Genji fan. The Regents' request was a bit surprising. It's not a thing I'd normally allow out of this building." Yuuko pushed a long strand of black hair behind her ear and regarded Claudia with an appraising look. "At least they sent a woman this time. They're learning."

"Well, uh, thank you?" Claudia was glad to put the plastic stick thing down and brush off her hands. There was something about Yuuko that was a bit unnerving and otherworldly, and it was making her lose her cool. "I'm glad I could help."

"Where are my manners? We're supposed to be entertaining you! A visitor from Warehouse 13." Yuuko's demeanor quickly changed. "We should be having a party! Watanuki, what do we have in stock?"

"Wait, you're going to make me cook again?" 

"But, Watanuki, your snacks are so good!" Yuuko smiled, "And I have a special bottle of sake that I've been saving. Don't you want to show our guest a good time?"

"Of course." Watanuki's shoulders slumped a little. Claudia tried to shoot a sympathetic eyeroll in his direction. _Artie may be kind of a grouch sometimes_ , she thought, _but working for this lady would be scary_.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a feeling that any item in Yuuko's treasure room would be worthy of a Warehouse episode. The Genji fan is entirely my own invention; since Genji was a man that all the ladies fell for, I imagine that Murasaki would have poured a lot of spirit/soul into an item/artifact related so closely to him. I had wanted to work in the detail that all the ladies commented on how *good* Genji smelled, but the fic went by without time for that particular detail, so...


End file.
